Friday, April 17, 2009

making an upholstered headboard....

i have had several people ask me about making my headboard so i thought i would share my insight on the matter: this project is super easy and very budget-friendly!

Supplies:

- wood

- foam

- batting

- fabric

- saw (if you are going to cut it yourself)

- staple gun (the kind you plug in is a must)

Getting Started:

-First you are going to need to decide on the shape of the headboard, if you are going out on a limb, you might want to make a template so you have a pattern to use when you are cutting the wood....we didn't want to take chances so we stuck w/a nice rectangle!

-Next determine the size of the headboard; the width should be a tad bit wider then your mattress and the height is totally up to you.....

-Now that you have the shape and size, it's time to purchase the wood...we used MDF, but plywood would be fine too. You want to make sure that the wood is at least a 1/4" thick.

*if you stuck w/ the rectangle shape, get them to cut it right there (make sure to take the scrap wood, it will work for your legs).

-Okay, now it's time for the insides...here is my money saving tip, use one of those egg crates for beds for the foam...it saves a lot of money. if you don't want to save money, you can go and get foam cut (2" thick is what they usually use). You will also need batting, it looks like gauze and is in the quilting section of the stores (remember to get enough to be able to wrap it around the headboard)....if it helps we got all of this stuff at walmart.

-Fabric is the next step, make sure that you get enough to wrap around the back of the board and for the legs (this gives a more 'professional look')...i got 3 yds for my king.

-Putting it all together: Start w/ the wood on the bottom, then add your foam (if you are using an egg crate, make sure that the smooth side is facing up), next is the batting, finally the fabric...

*note to self: make sure that the foam, batting, and fabric wrap around the back and sides (probably about 6")

**at this point, i got out the iron and ironed my fabric to make sure they weren't any creases showing.

-Now, you are going to need to flip the headboard over and start stapling the layers down onto the wood...we stapled four ones first and then looked to make sure the fabric was sitting right before securing the whole thing in place....you will want to keep smoothing your hand over the face of the fabric as you staple.

*the corners can be tricky...leave this task to the anal one in the family...you just have to keep tucking until you get a nice clean edge.

-Last step, attach the legs....we wrapped them in fabric and stapled the back...looks very nice to have them covered vs. seeing raw wood. We used flush mounting hardware to attach the headboard to our frame.

**Voila** a beautiful headboard for under $50. (well, that's if your fabric doesn't break the bank)....hope this helps for any DIY'ers out there!!